yohanson

I flew two international flights this year on V fares. If I had the GU certificates I could have used them to upgrade into J. How does that diminish a low value traveler like myself?

howtofreetravel

Wait so can we wait until march to choose our choice benefits for whoever qualified this year?

Crazyhotelguy

Was wondering the same thing... Remember, just because you are a DM, you are not necessarily a HVC.....

The only way service will improve is if comp ug is eliminated all together, along with cheap FCM. & even then, it is highly unlikely....

rylan

I'm curious then... why remove upgrades for everyone on the JFK t-cons? The other changes to SWUs are reducing benefits of PMs, but this t-con one effects the "right people" as well. Or does DL not think that pax flying several times a month on JFK-SFO are valuable unless they have a corporate contract to sit up front?

rylan

You're assuming there would be seats available at the gate to get the upgrade...

Remember we don't know the details on when/how availability opens for those low fares... and with DL removing visibility into RP/OP I propose it a reasonable assumption that intl low fares won't be given inventory until close to the flight or day of departure at the gate.

DL2SXM

but miles will still require a YBM fare ticket.

Playsmart

I have been on 8 JFK-SEA trips this year and besides being upgraded as a silver 3 times (before I hit gold) not once did medallions not get upgraded at the gate. Would they really let these cabins go out half full?

And for all the people saying they will just fly through other cities in order to try for an upgrade, is this really worth our time?

stiltwalker

Does anyone know if flights purchased through DL vacations earn MQDs? I see that there aren't values under a most recent trip I took. This is troubling as I have multiple transatlantic flights coming up in 2014 purchased through vacations...ugh.

Thx.

PaulInTheSky

This DL FFP is getting a little better, but after all the discussions about GU, I am not sure if one would be flying to re-qualify DM just for the GUs. It is definitely making a choice between RUs and voucher difficult.

DL2SXM

Has anyone posted this thought? Now, EC on transcons to/from JFK - SEA/SFO/LAX will be filled with miserable DMs that would have normally have been upgraded to BE, and to a lesser extent, PM's as well. That means, less EC seats for DL to sell to the minions which translates into less revenue.

Quite frankly, unless DL takes the 76's off the LAX and SEA routes out of and into JFK, those BE cabins will most likely have lots of empty seats. Sans the occasional NRSA, I personally wouldn't waste a GC on a transcon, not when I can use it on JFK - SIN or any other TPAC/TATL flight.

hdtv4me

Same here. And not one of my flights have had business class cabins - they had domestic first class cabins. Which is another thing that pisses me off. I would sort of understand if they said, no free upgrades on TCON metal with BE seating but instead they made it the route. And they are punishing the guys in the very market they have been trying to expand (NYC) so I have to wonder what geniuses came up with this devaluation and whether they were talking at an executive level about the inconsistency of their supposed strategy vs. the execution and how these changes could adversely impact their strategic goals in the NYC market.

In the end, all of these airlines suck a$$. I think the real answer here for me is not to change airlines but to simply spend less on air travel. These .......s keep devaluing their FF programs to "improve" things for us business travelers but I gotta tell ya', the benefits are getting thinner and thinner and sooner or later they will be filled up with discount grandmas and families and looking no different than an SWA flight. At which point I'll become a DM million minute user on Webex.

DL2SXM

Essentially what you are going to see is the EC seats filled up with miserable DMs/PM's and to a lesser extent, GM's. That should make for an interesting flight.

NotHamSarnie

As one of the vigorous defenders of SWUs who viewed them as discount-J rather than a cheap UG and managed to use all of mine every year I, too, am surprised by how many people are bemoaning the loss of the "useless" Y/B/M SWUs on TATL/TPACs in favor of the no-restrictions GUs.

For those thinking they will now use miles, how do you think this will happen? If you found it impossible to use your SWUs in the past, why would it suddenly become feasible to use miles, which don't go to the gate for UGs? My one complaint as a SWU user was risking sitting in the back when OP went to the gate and I'd forked out for an M fare. Now that this wrinkle is gone, do you not think that DL will now put most or all OP to the gate rather than releasing it in advance? After all, we're gambling only on a cheap fare now and will sit in the back without paying extra if the GU doesn't clear. It's not clear to me many were doing that in any case so for those saying DL will lose out on some population of M-payers who end up sitting in the back... nah, I don't think so. I'm sure DL would really like us to think "Should I buy Z or gamble with a T/GU?" rather than automatically selecting the T/GU because of available OP. Of course the non-revs really win out here.

There are other numerous threads about how it's not worth it to become DM because the difference in benefits is incremental rather than transformational, and people rolling over 24k miles (by flying other airlines!) instead of jumping to DM (including me last year). Obviously there is an incentive to DL to squash that behavior. Now there is an actual incentive to become DM.

I'm pretty surprised by all these people getting complimentary UG on transcons. I've thrown SWUs at ATL-SFO and sat in the back, or sometimes got a BFUG with a SWU, but I'm not sure I ever got one without a SWU except for Saturday travel. Maybe I just travel on popular times on this route, but I can't imagine a PM getting anywhere without a SWU on this route, with UG-list 60-70 long at the gate. Is JFK-SFO less competitive?

So, there is good and bad in all this, but it totally makes sense from DL's perspective, and for me the good would have outweighed the bad had I not already selected my *$&%(# benefits for 2014.

cmh flyer

Just hysterical!

rylan

Nope they don't get any MQD credit... DL screwed the pooch on this one.